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50 Human Rights Cases You Need to Know

Explore our map of 50 landmark human rights cases, each with a brief description and a link to a free article or report on the case. The cases were chosen in conjunction with the editors of the Oxford Reports on International Law. These choices were intended to showcase the variety of international, regional, and national mechanisms and fora for adjudicating human rights claims, and the range of rights that have been recognized. The following map provides a quick tour to these cases, highlighting trends and themes, some positive, some negative.

While you might think the clustering of pins in this map is about human rights abuses, it actually demonstrates access to a legal process (and, depending on implementation, a remedy).

These 50 cases are by no measurable sense the 50 greatest or most important cases, but they do amply demonstrate the expansion and increasing profile of this, mostly admirable, element of the rule of law.